Magento to Shopify Migration for Specialist Retailers

The short answer

Retailers leave Magento for one reason more than any other: the cost of keeping it running. Hosting, security patches, version upgrades and the developers who manage them add up, and none of that money makes the store sell more.

Shopify takes that whole layer away. What it asks in return is that your catalogue fits its structure, your URLs change, and your extensions are replaced. For a specialist retailer with thousands of attribute-heavy products, those three things are the migration.

Handled well, the move is also the best chance you’ll get to fix the catalogue, the filtering and the store design at the same time.

That matters most in categories where products are bought on specifications. A hi-fi or home cinema retailer on Magento often has years of attribute data spread across overlapping fields, layered navigation that creates thousands of thin URLs, and product pages that can’t show what a high-ticket buyer needs to see. A migration that simply copies all of that across moves the problems to a new address. A migration that restructures it gives the store a new foundation.

320Monthly searches for Magento to Shopify migration

From $9,997Custom theme build including migration

2–8 weeksTypical timeline

NoDowntime: built in preview

Why retailers leave Magento

Running costs. Hosting, caching, monitoring and patching are ongoing costs on Magento. On Shopify they’re part of the plan.
Upgrade cycles. Major Magento upgrades can be projects in their own right, and extensions often need updating alongside them.
Developer dependency. Small changes often need a Magento developer, and good ones are expensive and in demand.
Speed. Keeping a large Magento store fast takes continual work on hosting and caching.
Security. Self-managed platforms put patching on you. Shopify handles platform security and PCI compliance.
Team control. Shopify’s editor lets non-technical staff manage products, pages and campaigns without a developer.

Magento 1 reached end of life in 2020, and many of the stores still moving now are on Magento 2 or Adobe Commerce, choosing to leave rather than face the next upgrade.

How Magento maps to Shopify

General guide. The exact mapping depends on how your Magento store was built.
Magento	Shopify	What to watch
Simple products	Products	Usually straightforward
Configurable products	Products with variants	Complex option sets may need restructuring
Bundle and grouped products	Bundles via theme or app	Plan how bundles are sold and priced
Attribute sets and attributes	Options, metafields and metaobjects	Decide which attributes are filterable
Categories	Collections	Nested category trees become collections and navigation
Layered navigation	Collection filters	Built on structured product data
URL keys with .html	/products/ and /collections/ URLs	Every URL needs a redirect
Customer groups and tier prices	B2B on Plus, or apps	Scope wholesale needs early
Store views	Shopify Markets	Countries, currencies and languages
CMS pages and blocks	Pages and theme sections	Content rebuilt in the new theme
Extensions	Apps or native theme features	Many become unnecessary

Catalogue and attributes

This is where a Magento migration is won or lost for a specialist retailer.

Magento stores often carry hundreds of attributes built up over years, some used, some abandoned, some duplicated with slightly different names. Moving them all across as they are recreates the mess on a new platform. The migration is the moment to decide what each attribute is for.

Attributes buyers choose between become product options, like finish or size.
Attributes buyers filter on become structured metafields that power collection filters, like brand, power, connection type or room.
Attributes buyers compare become specification fields shown on the product page and in comparison.
Attributes nobody uses are left behind.

For an AV retailer, that might mean collapsing several overlapping “power” fields into one consistent specification, so a buyer can filter amplifiers by watts per channel across every brand. That’s the difference between a migration and an upgrade.

Want to know how your Magento catalogue would map across?

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URLs and SEO

Magento lets you shape URLs freely, often with .html suffixes and nested category paths. Shopify uses fixed patterns: products live under /products/ and categories under /collections/. That means almost every URL on your Magento store will change.

Each one needs a redirect from the old address to the new. On a large catalogue that’s thousands of lines, and it needs to cover more than products:

Product URLs, including any that live under category paths.
Category and subcategory URLs.
Layered navigation URLs that have picked up rankings or links.
CMS pages, blog posts and buying guides.
Old URLs that already redirect, so chains are collapsed rather than extended.

Meta titles, descriptions and structured data move with the content, and rankings, traffic and revenue are captured as a baseline before launch so any dip can be spotted and fixed within days.

Extensions and integrations

A typical Magento store runs a long list of extensions. On Shopify they fall into three groups:

No longer needed. Caching, full-page cache, security and many performance extensions exist because Magento is self-hosted. Shopify handles that layer.
Built into a custom theme. Filtering, product tabs, specification tables, comparison and many layout features can be part of the theme itself, with no monthly fee.
Replaced by apps or integrations. Reviews, email, search, subscriptions and ERP or accounting connections move to Shopify apps or custom integrations.

Integrations with ERP, warehouse or point-of-sale systems are often the biggest variable in a Magento migration. Some have reliable Shopify connectors; others need custom work. They’re named and scoped in the quote, not discovered halfway through.

Customers, groups and orders

Customer accounts, addresses and order history can all be imported, so repeat customers recognise the store and your team can still see past purchases. Marketing consent should move with each record.

Passwords are the exception. They’re encrypted and can’t be transferred between any two platforms, so customers activate their account on Shopify, either through an invitation email or when they next log in. The email explaining it is part of launch planning.

Order history is usually imported as historical records rather than live orders, which keeps reporting accurate without re-triggering fulfilment.

Multi-store views, B2B and wholesale

Magento’s multi-store setup and customer groups are two areas where the move needs the most thought.

Store views

If you use store views for different countries, currencies or languages, Shopify Markets handles that from a single store. If you use them for genuinely separate brands, those usually become separate Shopify stores.

Customer groups and tier pricing

Trade customers, installers and wholesale accounts often rely on Magento customer groups and tier prices. Shopify Plus includes B2B features such as company accounts, price lists and payment terms. On other plans, apps cover some wholesale needs. Which route fits depends on how much of your revenue is trade, and it’s one of the first things the audit establishes.

Shopify or Shopify Plus?

Many Magento retailers assume they need Plus. Many don’t.

You probably need Plus if...	Grow or Advanced is probably enough if...
A large share of revenue is B2B with price lists and terms	Trade sales are a small part of the business
You need several storefronts or expansion stores	You sell one brand portfolio in one or two markets
You need deep checkout customisation	Shopify’s standard checkout suits your customers
Volume is very high	Volume is healthy but not enterprise-scale

Plus-tier work sits in our bespoke route, from $19,997. Our Shopify website cost guide compares the plans in detail.

Preparing your Magento store before the move

A few jobs done before the project starts make it faster, cheaper and safer:

Export an attribute list with how often each attribute is used. It makes the rationalisation conversation quick.
List every extension and what it actually does for the business, not what it was installed for years ago.
Pull your top pages from Search Console: the URLs that earn the most clicks and revenue. They get checked one by one at launch.
Document integrations: ERP, POS, warehouse, accounting, email and anything else that reads or writes orders.
Prune dead products. Discontinued lines don’t need migrating; they need redirecting to the best live alternative.
Agree trade and wholesale needs with whoever owns those accounts, so the B2B route is decided early.

Launch week on a Magento migration

A short content freeze on Magento, so no new products, prices or orders are lost between the final data sync and launch.
A final delta import of new customers and orders placed since the main migration.
Redirects tested in bulk, with the highest-value URLs checked individually.
Checkout tested end to end, including payment providers, finance options, tax and shipping rules.
DNS switched carefully, changing only the records the website needs and leaving email untouched.
The new sitemap submitted in Search Console, and crawl errors watched daily for the first fortnight.

What improves after the move

Retailers who make the move well tend to notice the same things within the first few months:

No more upgrade projects. Shopify updates the platform continuously, and the store doesn’t need taking apart to stay current.
A faster store. A custom theme with speed engineered in, on Shopify’s global infrastructure, without a hosting stack to tune.
A team that can work without a developer. Products, landing pages and campaigns managed in Shopify’s editor.
A checkout customers trust, with the payment and finance options they already use elsewhere.
Cleaner data. A rationalised catalogue that powers better filtering, better product pages and better Google Shopping feeds.

How a Magento migration runs

Audit and scopingCatalogue, attributes, extensions, integrations and rankings reviewed. Fixed scope, fee and launch date in writing.
Baseline and URL mapRankings, traffic and revenue captured; every Magento URL mapped to its Shopify address.
Attribute and data restructuringAttributes rationalised into options, filters and specifications; the catalogue rebuilt as clean structured data.
Design and build in previewA custom theme built around the new data while the Magento store keeps trading.
Integrations and trackingERP, POS and other systems connected; analytics and conversions verified against real orders.
Launch and monitorDNS switched, redirects live, then 30 days of monitoring and fixes against the baseline.

What a Magento to Shopify migration costs

With KA Consultancy, migration is part of the build. A custom theme design and build including migration starts from $9,997 and typically takes 2–6 weeks. Bespoke design and development starts from $19,997, typically takes 4–8 weeks, and covers large attribute-heavy catalogues, ERP integrations, B2B and multi-market stores.

Against that, set what you stop paying: Magento hosting, patching, upgrade projects and much of the developer retainer. For many retailers, those savings cover a large part of the move within the first couple of years. Our Shopify migration cost guide covers the factors that move the price.

Magento to Shopify migration: a modern living room with a wall-mounted television above a low media unit — Specialist catalogues deserve a store built around how customers actually shop.

Common mistakes

Migrating every attribute as it is. Years of duplicated, unused attributes become years of clutter on Shopify.

Forgetting layered navigation URLs. Filter pages that picked up rankings or links need redirecting too.

Leaving redirect chains in place. Old Magento redirects should be collapsed into single redirects to the new URL.

Assuming every extension needs an app. Many aren’t needed at all, and many more belong in the theme.

Copying the Magento design. The move is the cheapest moment you’ll ever have to redesign.

Underestimating B2B. Trade pricing and accounts need deciding before the build, not after launch.

If you’re choosing who to work with, our guide to choosing a Shopify migration agency has the questions to ask.

When to stay on Magento

Your business logic is deeply custom. If the store depends on heavily bespoke pricing, configuration or workflows that would need rebuilding from scratch, Magento may still be the better home.
You’ve just finished an upgrade. If you’ve recently invested in a major Magento upgrade that’s working, it may be worth getting the return on it first.
You have a strong in-house Magento team. If the running costs are already absorbed by a team you’re keeping anyway, the case for moving is weaker.

For most specialist retailers, none of these apply, and the move pays off in lower running costs and a store the team can manage themselves. Lipton’s Audio & Video’s move to Shopify, with more than 2,800 products rebuilt as structured data, is set out in the Lipton’s Shopify migration case study.

Get a straight answer on whether to move.

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Magento to Shopify migration: FAQ

For most specialist retailers, yes. Shopify removes hosting, security patching and much of the developer time Magento needs, and a well-planned migration keeps your catalogue, customers and rankings intact. Very complex B2B or heavily customised setups are the main exceptions.

Yes. Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce stores can both be migrated. The work depends on your catalogue structure, extensions and integrations rather than the edition.

They become Shopify products with variants. Most configurable products map cleanly; ones with many options, or options that change price in complex ways, may need restructuring or app support.

Attributes become product options, metafields or metaobjects on Shopify, depending on how they’re used. Filterable attributes are set up so they power collection filters.

Yes. Shopify places products under /products/ and categories under /collections/, and Magento’s .html suffixes disappear. Every old URL is mapped and redirected to its new address before launch.

Not if the migration is managed properly. A full redirect map, carried-over metadata and structured data, and monitoring against a pre-launch baseline are what protect rankings.

No. Passwords are encrypted and can’t move between platforms. Customer accounts, addresses and order history can be imported, and customers activate their account on Shopify after launch.

Some features become apps, many are built into a custom theme, and some, like hosting, caching and security patching, are no longer needed at all because Shopify handles them.

Shopify supports B2B features such as company accounts and price lists on Shopify Plus, and apps cover some wholesale needs on other plans. Complex customer group pricing is scoped during the audit.

Shopify Markets handles multiple countries, currencies and languages from one store. Entirely separate brands usually run as separate Shopify stores.

Not necessarily. Many Magento stores move to Shopify Grow or Advanced. Plus makes sense for very high volume, B2B price lists, multiple storefronts or checkout customisation.

A custom theme build with migration typically takes 2–6 weeks; bespoke builds with large catalogues, B2B or complex integrations typically take 4–8 weeks.

With KA Consultancy, a custom theme design and build including migration starts from $9,997, and bespoke design and development from $19,997. Large attribute-heavy catalogues and ERP integrations usually sit in the bespoke route.

Usually, yes. The data is being restructured anyway, so designing templates around the new structure costs far less than redesigning separately later, and avoids copying an old design onto a new platform.

The function moves, not the setup. Filters are rebuilt on Shopify using structured product data, and old layered navigation URLs that carry rankings or links are redirected.

Reviews can usually be exported and imported into a Shopify review app, so star ratings and review text stay attached to each product.

The feed is rebuilt from the new Shopify catalogue, and it’s often better afterwards, because rationalised attributes produce cleaner, more complete product data.

Usually, yes. Many ERP systems have Shopify connectors, and those that don’t can be integrated through custom work. The ERP connection is named and scoped in the quote so there are no surprises mid-project.

Yes. Blog posts and content pages move to Shopify with their URLs redirected, so the rankings they carry are protected.

Hosting, security patching, version upgrades, server monitoring and the developer time to manage them. On Shopify those are part of the plan, which is one of the main reasons retailers move.

Sources

KA Consultancy process, prices and timelines are as published on our Shopify website design page. Migration results are from the Lipton’s Audio & Video case study. Search interest for “Magento to Shopify migration” is from Google Keyword Planner, September 2025 to August 2026. Platform details reflect Shopify’s and Adobe’s published documentation at the time of writing; check help.shopify.com for current limits.

Magento to Shopify migration for specialist retailers